Rapid City Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Rapid City, South Dakota
United States
Rapid City Department of Parks and Recreation
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 23m 42s
Overall Rank = 21/56
Age Group = F26-35
Age Group Rank = 3/12
Pre-race routine:

I got up too early for a local race. But I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and mosied downstairs to eat breakfast. Breakfast was a homemade banana muffin, a small bowl of frosted flakes with soy milk, and a banana. Stood around the kitchen for awhile since I had gotten up too early. Loaded up the car. Left the house ontime at 0530. Race set up was supposed to be 0600-0630. I think I was the first person there! My mom came with me. I set up my stuff in transition. The race director had lost or could not find the pins that held the bike racks together so there were no racks! We had to lay our bikes down in the parking lot. Nice. My friend Shalin came up to me and asked if I had a spare tube because his tire was flat and he didn't have ANY tubes. I only had the one in my seatkit but I gave it to him anyway. I figured if I got a flat someone would be able to throw me a tube. It was a better option than him not getting to start. Shalin being a mooch would become a theme. :) More on that later! Prerace meeting at 0635. Then nothing to do but stand around and wait and show my mom where to go.
Event warmup:

5' run/2' bike just to loosen things up and make sure everything was functioning correctly. No time to get in the pool. No one else was swimming.
Swim
  • 14m 38s
  • 800 meters
  • 01m 50s / 100 meters
Comments:

FASTEST SWIM IN MY AG BY OVER A MINUTE! I rock. They started you by your projected swim time. So this all depended on how accurately people predicted their times. Considering it was a meters pool which most people are not used to swimming in, and a SLOW one at that...I expected people's times to be not so accurate. I had the 10th fastest projected swim time, so I started 10th. I SWEAR I saw #9 pick up his packet and he was kinda cute. But when it was time for #9 to get in the water, he wasn't there. This was good for me, it meant I had CLEAN water in front of me!

I took off and immediately felt lots of drag. I was wearing my BT tri suit for the first time and I have only done wetsuit legal tri's lately. So I wasn't used to the feel of a tri suit in water. And this pool is SO freakin' slow and draggy. At the end of the first 100m I had to serpentine under the lane lines. I had never tried this before. :) In general it took me a couple of laps to get used to where to flip turn at the ends but it went okay. I passed my first person on the 2nd or 3rd lap. He was backstroking. So much for HIS projected swim time! I ended up having to split right between him and an oncoming swimmer. I didn't hit the oncoming swimmer but I got hit a lot by the backstroker. I think it was also the second or third lap where someone ran head-on into me. I was where I belonged so I don't know what happened. Either they couldn't swim straight or they were trying to pass someone and didn't clear their path. Whatever. I didn't stop to figure it out. I just kept plowing on.

Uneventful few laps. Up/down/up/down/etc. I wasn't really seeing my splits. Too much to think about while flipping to check out the watch. I think it was the fifth lap when I passed the other person I passed. This was a girl and she just wasn't swimming as fast as me. But I do know she was #7 so she started 1:30 ahead of me. I was hurting though. No warmup and swimming hard in a draggy pool...that was effort.

I knew there was a guy pretty close behind me that was probably going to pass me. He passed RIGHT before a turn and of COURSE he wasn't flipping so I had to pull up for a few seconds while he ducked under the lane. But...he wasn't going much faster than me, so for the last 100m I just latched onto his feet. Thanks for the lift!

He stopped at the ladder rather than go all the way to the wall (it was less than a 5' difference) so I took his lead and went straight up the ladder. In the future this might be something I should ask about. I didn't know if we had to go all the way to the wall to get out or not. It was a local tri. No one was going to care!


What would you do differently?:

Warmup? I swam pretty hard and came out almost EXACTLY at my projected time (I projected 14:30). So, it went okay. My mom said a few people commented that I was fast.
Transition 1
  • 01m 9s
Comments:

Second fastest T1 in my AG. Second to the AG winner. FOURTH fastest OVERALL!!!!

Okay, I got a GREAT spot. RIGHT at the bike/run exit. So I ran across the parking lot, put my stuff on, and only had to walk 10 feet in my bike shoes. That is why I did not bother leaving the shoes on the bike. I just wore them. Hopped on my bike and I was OFF! I kinda dragged my feet the last 15 seconds to give my mom time to get over to take pictures. :)

Um, someone in my AG spent 14 minutes in transition according to the results. Really? I just CANNOT believe that.
What would you do differently?:

Go faster....
Bike
  • 38m 53s
  • 20 kms
  • 30.86 km/hr
Comments:

It wound through a neighborhood to start. At the first major turn there were no volunteers directing traffic yet. The course was marked with orange arrows painted on the road and they were REALLY hard to see. So, basically I was hauling butt down a slight hill and saw the orange arrows pretty late. I slammed on the brakes and tried to turn but I was going too fast. I felt the back end start fishtailing. I did not want to crash so I stopped trying to turn and concentrated on keeping control of the bike and slowing down. I finally got slow enough to turn. I would find out later that I was not the only person this happened to!

Very shortly later we were on the straighr road. I forgot how big the hills were on this road. They were not HUGE, but significant. I was probably going up them around 12-13 miles per hour. I was trying to push hard since it is a sprint, but I probably could have pushed harder.

Halway up the second or third hill someone pulled up alongside me. It was Shalin. He chatted for a few seconds then asked me if he could have some of my drink! He did not have any bottles on his bike! So I handed it over and we rode side by side for a bit until he was done drinking. This was not a USAT sanctioned race but I could not help but think how many USAT rules that violated. :) Not to mention that he got to ride lighter by mooching my water! But that is what friends are for, right? It is all karma and it will come back!

The rest of the ride was more of the same. I only had about 3 people pass me and I passed a couple. When we came back through the neighborhood they finally had someone sitting at that corner. Traffic was low since it was a very early Sunday morning. Nothing significant really. The end was downhill so I had to slow down quite a bit to get my feet out of my shoes.

STATS from the Ergomo:
Entire workout (172 watts):
Duration: 39:15
Work: 404 kJ
TSS: 72.6 (intensity factor 1.054)
Norm Power: 190
VI: 1.11
Distance: 10.72 mi
Elevation Gain: 577 ft
Elevation Loss: 551 ft
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 388 172 watts
Heart rate: 0 177 164 bpm
Cadence: 34 115 86 rpm
Speed: 1.9 33.8 16.4 mph

So the Ergomo had it a bit short...I think I agree. But the watts seem spot on.
What would you do differently?:

Ride harder. This is where I started to lose time on my competitors.
Transition 2
  • 01m 6s
Comments:

Fourth fastest T2 in my AG. 24th overall. I guess I need to speed this one up! I ran through the transition area in my bare feet with my bike to my spot near the run exit. I had some trouble getting my socks on. And then when I picked up my race belt I saw half the clip still sitting on my towel. I had to spend 5 seconds getting the brain process going that I was not going to get it fixed fast and I would just have to tie it. Other than that delay, nothing seemed overly slow.
What would you do differently?:

Go faster. How do most people get through here so fast? I think several of the folks who beat me were not wearing bike shoes.
Run
  • 27m 58s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 08m 59s  min/mile
Comments:

I started out at a pretty slow pace. Waved at my mom and headed out. The first maybe mile was downhill. I was practically jogging. WTF? Finally when I got down to the bike path I remembered i was racing and started to go faster. But not before I got passed by at least three people. On thet outbound part two chicks passed me...boo! As I made the turn around I saw two other chicks who were not that far behind me. One ended up passing me. I definitely sped up the last two miles though. But I was not redlining by any means. I am too used to the long stuff. It is hard to make myself go at that LT level.

AHR = 170, Max = 181. So yeah, I was f'ing SANDBAGGING!!!!!
What would you do differently?:

Run faster! Not let so many chicks pass me!
Post race
Warm down:

Stood around talking to Shalin, my mom, and other people. Drank some recoverite and ate some food. Waited for the awards which turned out to be a waste of time! They just read names! No actual hardware! GIPPED! We got GIPPED!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I did not rest up well the few days before this. Lack of training. I have not really ridden my bike or run much lately.

Event comments:

Apparently this race was MUCH more organized than last year. It was pretty decent. I mean, it had CHIP timing for 60 people! The events DID start on time. Other than the one bvike turn the course was well-marked. They said they would send out a survey and be open to suggestions so I will be sure to make some since I think I have done enough triathlons to have good suggestions!

I basically did this race to guarantee that I got to do a workout at least once while the parents were here. And I wanted them to watch me race, even if it was a sprint. Mom came, dad did not want to.

If my AG had been 25-29 like normal I would have won my AG. The two chicks ahead of me were both over 30.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2007-06-10 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:14:38 | 800 meters | 01m 50s / 100meters
Age Group: 1/12
Overall: 7/56
Performance:
Suit: BT!!!!
Course: Serpentine in a 50m pool.
Start type: Inside Pool Plus:
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current:
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding:
T1
Time: 01:09
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:38:53 | 20 kms | 30.86 km/hr
Age Group: 3/12
Overall: 27/56
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Through a neighborhood then up Haines on rolling hills. Into another neighborhood to turn around.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:06
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:27:58 | 03.11 miles | 08m 59s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/12
Overall: 28/56
Performance: Below average
Course: Downhill from the pool to the bike path. Outbound on the bike path then back to the bandshell for the finish.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 3